Friday, October 26, 2012

UWC 50th Celebrations: DAY 4

by Cyrus Vakil (Faculty)

Photo by Oscar Akerburg

DAY 4 was planned around the themes of
biodiversity and sustainability. The afternoon began with a slideshow of campus
fauna by Sharada Vakil. All photographs displayed were taken by faculty over
the years, on campus. The diversity of fauna explained why the Sahyadri region,
in which the College is nestled, is ranked among the top 20 ecological hotspots
in the world. Birds and reptiles made the greatest impression on students and
their predatory habits were discussed. The importance of not walking barefoot
in the dark was stressed: snakes will avoid humans till trodden on!

Kurush Canteenwalla spoke next. An
award-winning documentary film-maker who has also taught Film part-time at
MUWCI (2006-2009), Kurush talked about predatory behaviour of a different kind
– illegal mining in the Goan Sahyadris. Though it was not known to the audience
at the time the subject was very topical. Earlier this week the Indian Supreme
Court has suspended all mining in Goa till environmental clearances are
checked.

The last and most detailed presentation was
by Farhad Contractor, who has worked with local communities to complete over
800 water harvesting and water-table recharging projects in India, mostly in
Rajasthan and the Himalayan foothills. Given a brief to generate momentum for a
water harvesting program on campus, Farhad spoke of the cost and the ethics of
drawing water from the riverbed and pumping it up the hill. Given the high
rainfall at MUWCI (>2000mm/year) Farhad argued that check dams and storage
wells at strategic points on the slope had the potential to make the campus
self-sufficient in water.

Farhad offered a number of examples and
visuals from Western Rajasthan and Kutch where communities overcame chronic
water shortages through water harvesting, even though the rainfall there is
only 250-400mm/yr and gradients are much lower. Farhad’s talk turned out to be
the best-attended event of the four-day celebrations and was followed by lively
Q&A and discussion. The debates included whether rainwater was fit to drink without
further treatment, the ethics of having a swimming pool and growing lawns and
crops atop the hill, and whether check dams would hurt or help the rice valley
below.

On Saturday we have invited a guest to
speak to the college on an important topic: "Rain water harvesting to make
our campus sustainable". The session started at 4pm andwas very relevant for the school.